On Thursday, 8th of December, the Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science, Shirley-Anne Somerville, and the Principal of the University of St Andrews, Professor Sally Mapstone, opened a new center for Designer Quantum Materials. At the core of this facility is a reactive-oxide molecular beam epitaxy system, funded by the Engineering and Physics Sciences Research Council (EPSRC, EP/M023958/1).

We are participating in the DAAD RISE programme which offers undergraduate students from Germany an opportunity to go abroad to work on a small research project. Have a look at the web pages of DAAD for more information (in german).

DCA have installed a dual-chamber MBE system for the growth of designer oxide heterostructures at the School of Physics and Astronomy of the University of St Andrews. See below for a video of the assembly.

The MBE system will be coupled to existing state-of-the-art spectroscopic probes including low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy and angle-resolved photoemission. This EPSRC-funded strategic equipment (EP/M023958/1) will operate as a shared facility, which we aim to establish as a leading centre for the supply of custom oxide thin films within the UK.

Ana Maldonado, former TOPNES PDRA at the University of St Andrews, attended the Lindau Meeting of Nobel Laureates. The Nobel Laureate Meeting is an opportunity for early career researchers to meet excellent scientists from Nobel Laureates to undergraduate students. To learn more about Ana and her visit of the Lindau Meeting, see the links below.

From 8th to 10th of June 2016, we are organizing a conference on Engineering Quantum Matter in St Andrews. The aim of this workshop is to bring together theorists and experimentalists to discuss how engineered quantum states can be exploited and designed for future technologies. The workshop connects strongly to local research activities at the University of St Andrews and links into a major collaborative research programme on topological protection and non-equilibrium states in strongly correlated electron systems (TOPNES). We have been able to attract a number of outstanding speakers. As there is only a limited number of places available, secure yours early.